Fusion 360 vs Sketchup vs other

[redknife]

I'm starting a series of projects where I'd like to batch dimension and batch finish. I also need to agree on the design with others. I think the process will be aided by computer 3d plans. I'm tech savvy but I've always been a hand sketch with pencil and paper kind of guy. I have used Sketchup Make (rookie) and cultist.

Gotta say I've found Sketchup frustrating when I want to make changes. Say a piece of furniture is constructed in Sketchup but you decide to re-dimension pieces, change joinery, or change drawer construction. To me that situation is kinda painful in Sketchup. The other situation I've found difficult is when I want to design curved pieces and then print a template. I wind up having my wife draw the piece in AutoCAD LT and print to scale. I'm sure this impression relates to my inexperience and lack of Sketchup skills. I will say I've watched a ton of videos and benefitted from Dave R.'s excellent tutorials.

Mike (ste6168) mentioned Autocad Fusion 360 on a recent thread which is also free. It looks like it is easier to throw your design together and then alter the dimensions compared to Sketchup. My initial reaction to the tutorials is that the program is more intuitive to me.

Does anyone have advice or comparative experience with the Autocad Fusion 360 vs Sketchup for woodworking design?

 

[Jeff]

Say a piece of furniture is constructed in Sketchup but you decide to re-dimension pieces, change joinery, or change drawer construction. To me that situation is kinda painful in Sketchup.

How so for you? It shouldn't be that painful but maybe your way of doing it is the problem.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/22911/a-fern-stand-demonstrating-my-drawing-process

The stand was later modified with lots of changes to resize it into a bench but I can't find that link.

Dave will chime in.

 

[Dave Richards]

Thanks for posting that link, Jeff.

The other post you're referring to is this one: http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/23220/modifying-a-model

 

[redknife]

How so for you? It shouldn't be that painful but maybe your way of doing it is the problem.

No doubt and thanks for the links. I think I need to just invest a bit more time learning and doing. I did download Autocad Fusion 360. It is pretty nice but I'd be learning from scratch. I'd probably just waste time switching rather than fine-tuning my skills in Sketchup.
Since I posted, I discovered the Fine Woodworking Design, Click, Build blog with Dave and Tim Killen http://www.finewoodworking.com/blog/design-click-build. I already had some aha moments.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

The other reason (in my mind at least) to use Sketchup is that many more people use it. That means when you have a problem, a quick internet search or YouTube video is likely to find answers. Also, there tends to be this guy on here (I think you know who it is) who is a sketchup expert and answers many of our questions.